Vetti Gard - pearl in Utladalen
Have you heard about Vetti Gard , but haven't been there? Then it's high time!
Tourists on Vetti Gard
Vetti Gard received guests for accommodation as early as 1868 - the same year that DNT was founded. After the vetlestova was completed seven seasons later, Vetti Gard status as a tourist station.
We do not know how long there has actually been a permanent settlement in Vetti. The first reliable sources date back to 1120, and indicate that bread grain was already being grown there at that time. Vetti Gard is a farm with a historical feel and impressive age, especially considering its remote location in the very heart of the country. Utladalen .
Several famous people have found their way to Vetti Gard up through history.
Edward Grieg
Edvard Grieg found the way to Vetti Gard in the summer of 1887 and then in the summer of 1891 - and afterwards he stated that the trip had made him ten years younger - something thousands of tourists have been able to sign on the page. It was also on Skogadalsbøen in Utladalen that Grieg met Gjendine Slålien - who later gave rise to the widely known composition of Gjendine's boat song.
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen found the way to Vetti Gard in 1884 in connection with a training trip before the great expedition where he skied across Greenland (1888). He stated the following: "I was on my way early the next morning and found my breakfast of fresh ripe molts on the bog. Then the road continued towards the village. Just as I stood at the cliff, and Årdalen suddenly opened up right under my feet like a narrow, dark crack deep down through the mountain mass, and I saw the valley floor more than a thousand feet vertically below, then the sun rose - the peaks on the other side and the peaks further in glow in the morning light. A few birds chirp some peaceful trills in the birch bushes nearby, the dew sparkles on the leaves and in the heather, and down from the bottom of the depths a dull sound rises: thunder of Vettisfossen , which sends a cloud of fine water dust across the valley gorge. Nature rejoices in the joy of the morning, and involuntarily one rejoices with it. I turn around towards the serious mountain peaks behind me, and I hawk inland. It gives a resounding echo, it hums and sounds longer and longer in between until it flows together and is lost far in the expanse. I listen to the echo as it dies. Then a last farewell to the mountain, and it carries quickly down the path, carved in the rock wall. Soon I have disappeared into the depths and down by Vetti Gård." Fridtjof Nansen, 1884
Source: Schwarzott, Jan: "Under Storen, portrait of Utladalen and Vettisfossen " (1997)
Vetti Gard today
Vetti Gard is still in operation as a tourist station, and accepts overnight stays during the summer season. In 2018, Vetti Gard June 21st, and will remain open until September 9th. If you want to secure a bed, you shouldn't wait too long...
All photos: Veri Media Photo by Vettisfossen : Rigmor Øygarden
